After watching this documentary...

It made me really understand that the casting directors are definitely one of the consequential elements to making a great film. Dougherty was a real pioneer when it came to breaking the mold of conventional typecasting in Hollywood that remained very much infamous during the Golden Age of Hollywood. As a movie actor back throughout the 1930s to the 1950s, you were either the everyman, the male heartthrob, the girl next door, the femme fatale, the best friend, the villain, the spinster, the prostitute, etc.

Being an aspiring actor, I really wanted to watch this to see what goes down in the process of casting great film and television. I learned so much and I was very amazed by the revolutionary approaches Marion Dougherty made, along with other casting directors, who were, unfortunately, sometimes overlooked by the American film industry in general. They stood by their guns and just look at the massive classic hits they were able to come up with due to their exquisite casting. Look at the great actors and actresses now who have Dougherty to thank for the beginning of their successes in film and television. Of course, we got to give it to the film directors as well, but the casting directors, trying to find talent for them sometimes must be like finding a needle in a haystack.

I thought that it was pretty amazing that Marion Dougherty knew who James Dean was before he was even famous.

Watching the end, it made me very indignant over how the corporations were taking over the film industry, wanting to make films more for the quick buck than for the artistic integrity - the way it should be. Largely, I remember when the documentary mentioned the film "See Spot Run" and I have to say, what a joke! This woman (Dougherty) was good at what she did, and now they want her to do craptastic films such as that? My gosh! It's terrible how agist and sexist Hollywood has been, and still is today. Alas, Dougherty was no exception.

It is a shame that the Academy couldn't do some kind of honor for Dougherty, even, in my opinion, if it was an Honorary Award or something like that. I didn't know who this woman was before watching this documentary, but after seeing it, I really do take an appreciation for what casting directors like Marion Dougherty did to make great films and television.

Sadly, she is gone now, which is unfortunate, for I would have love to have met her after watching this documentary on HBO. But I guess we'll always have the great films that she was able to cast on behalf of not only the directors, but for the film buffs of yesterday and today.